The last few weeks I have noticed that I have been dropping the ball on various things. Forgetting tiny tasks or needing to remind myself more often about something that needs to be done.
I discovered that I have low iron in my blood (anemia) and it explains so much.
Low iron means that your blood can not carry enough oxygen to the cells in your body – all of them! – and as a result, they either can not work to their full capacity, or they get tired and they can stop working all together.
Now I know that we talk often about self-care in our VA businesses.
When we work alone we can pick up bad habits very quickly – from eating at our desk, to staying on social media all day long, to an array of other things that can eat into our productivity and our overall health.
But what I want to talk about today is looking to see if your business itself is anemic!
Let’s consider you to be the blood of your business’s body. And let’s say your commitment to and completion of tasks is the oxygen level of the business.
Think about the various things that can be affected by a lack of oxygen in your business.
If you don’t have the commitment to follow through on goals, plans, strategies, tasks, then your business will suffer.
If you don’t complete things that you say you will complete,your business will suffer.
If you run out of energy to do all the things that need doing(and don’t get help either!), your business will suffer.
So look honestly at your business and where the holes are (there are holes, trust me, even if you are running a successful business!).
What can you do to supplement your business to stop limiting your potential or your results?
Here are a few things you can look at quickly to go from limit-ed to limit-less (just like Bradley Cooper in that movie!):
1. Make a 30 day plan to change one thing that you know can make a difference in your bottom line. Example: reach out to 2 people every day about your business. Ask them to have a sales conversation with you. That’s 40 people in one month!
2. Examine your revenue and expenses for one month andmake some changes to how you spend your money to increase your profit. Example: look at your project management system, your website hosting, anything you are paying for that maybe you could get a better deal on. Or maybe it’s just time to raise your rates!
3. Make a list of things you are doing (or not doing) in your business that you should be outsourcing to someone else – to improve how they are being done, or how much money you make. Example: look at things like your invoicing procedures, or your bookkeeping – maybe it’s time to pay someone to free up your valuable time and get it done right. You’ll have more time to work with more clients = more profits!
4. Set a work schedule in place that is free from distraction. Multi-tasking is NOT effective. Schedule time to work and block out all distractions during that time. You will be surprised to see how much more you get done in the same amount of time. Example: Book your time in 15 minute blocks for client work. Stay focused and work only on their stuff, no social media, no email, no nothing except their work. You will see that you can get more done in 15 minutes when you are not distracted.
Once you do these small things, start something a bit bigger – each month do a content plan. Or at the end of each week or month, do some analytics. What is working or not working in your business?
Or set a larger, longer term goal. But then break it down into manageable action steps. Do a little each day.
Your business really is limitless.
Once you stop just trudging through the day to day stuff, and you stop to supplement it, you will see it. So clearly!
Okay so maybe you won’t be able to speak another language or become a millionaire in a week like Bradley Cooper did, but you will be on a better path to success, very quickly.
If I can help you get that clarity, schedule a laser session with me. Sometimes it just takes talking about it to get to exactly where you want to be!